Our guide,How buying works, explained the process buyersgo through when purchasing something on itch.io. This guide explains howcreators can accept payments and get paid.
itch.io works with third-party payment gateways to handle all financialtransactions. The following payment providers are available:
itch.io never stores any payment information on its servers. Buyers aredirected to the payment gateways where they can securely enter their purchaseinformation.
When using PayPal, the buyer will be redirected to the PayPal web page where theycan securely pay, then back toitch.io with a secret download access link.
For most PayPal transactions, a fee of $0.30 + 2.9% is applied pertransaction. Depending on your account here may be additional fees for currencyconversion when receiving funds into your account.
When using Stripe the buyer will be redirected to a checkout page onitch.io where they can enter their credit card.itch.io never sees orstores credit card numbers. Payment information is sent security to Stripethrough the buyer’s browser session.
For most credit card transactions, Stripe takes a fee of $0.30 + 2.9%.
Read more about Stripe's pricing
itch.io is a marketplace for creators of all kind. It’s our goal to supportcreators by giving them the tools to sell and distribute their work. As a wayof saying thanks to those using itch.io, we utilize anOpen Revenue Sharingmodel. (Read about the launch)
You (the seller) can decide what percentage of your sales will go towardsitch.io, from 0% to 100%. All money collected is used directly for runningservers, paying for bandwidth, and supporting the development of newfunctionality. You can read more about itch.io’s mission on ourAboutpage.
Here’s an example of how Open Revenue Sharing is calculated for a transaction.For the sake of simplicity, we'll assume the default rate, 10%, and that we'reworking in USD.
First, itch.io will take the percentage configured on your account’s revenuesharing settings. In this example, the default would be 10% of $10. Next, thepayment provider fee is subtracted (Generally $0.30 + 2.9% of the totalprice).
--itch.io-- ----PayPal/Stripe----$10 - ($10 * 0.1) - $0.30 - ($10 * 0.029) = $8.41You can choose what percentage of your sales to give to support thedevelopment and operational costs ofitch.io in yourSellerSettings.
All payment processors we work with (PayPal, Stripe) have aper-transactionfee. Regardless of whether you're receiving payouts from us or using ourdirect payments system, this fee is applied per transaction at the time orpurchase.
On the dashboard we report gross revenue, which is the total amount paid bybuyers, before any fees have been subtracted. Because fees can fluctuateslightly, your final net earnings will be calculated when you request apayout when using our Payouts system.
A payment processor’s fee is typically comprised of a fixed amount around 30cents and a percentage amount around 2.9%. Due to the fixed fee, the totalpercentage of the entire transaction the fee represents changes depending onthe price of your product.
For example 30 cents of a 1 dollar payment is 30%, 30 cents of a 2 dollarpayment is 15%, etc.You can avoid high payment processor fees by sellingyour work for a higher price.
For this reason we recommend people minimally sell their work at $2 to avoidgiving up a large percentage of their earnings to the payment processor.
itch.io supports two different payout modes. Your choice affects what paymentoptions are available to buyers, who is listed as the merchant of record,taxes, how chargebacks are handled, and more.
Here’s a table of the differences, refer to the table below for more detailedexplanations.
| Direct to you | Collected by itch.io (Payouts) | |
| Setup | Manually connect to each payment provider. Provide tax information to each payment provider | No manual connection. Complete one tax interview on itch.io and accept seller terms |
| Payment methods for buyers | You have to manually setup each payment provider you want to support | You instantly get every supported method. New ones added will automatically be available |
| Currency | You manually select a currency | itch.io handles all transactions as USD. You get paid in USD. We handle automatic currency conversion |
| Getting paid | Each transaction goes directly into the balance of the respective payment provider you've connected | itch.io collects payments, you request a payout at a later time. You can be paid via PayPal or Payoneer |
| Merchant of Record | You are the Merchant of Record | itch.io is the Merchant of Record |
| Chargebacks | You are liable for chargebacks | itch.io is liable for chargebacks |
| Fraud detection | itch.io provides fraud detection | itch.io provides fraud detection |
| VAT | You are responsible for collection and remittance. You can enable automatic VAT collection from itch.io | VAT is always automatically collected. itch.io is responsible for remittance |
| Tax forms | Each payment provider will generate tax forms for you | itch.io will generate tax forms for you |
| Split transactions | Your account only supports transactions that go fully to your account. No support for co-op bundles | You can participant in any promotions that split payments across multiple sellers, likeco-op bundles |
| Transaction eligibility | You may need to configure your payment provider account to accept payments from certain regions, otherwise they may be blocked | itch.io's payment provider account is configured to accept all payments |
| Refunds | itch.io will refund payments on your behalf when necessary | itch.io will refund payments on your behalf when necessary |
In order to sell withDirect to you, you must manually connect everypayment provider you wish to make available to your buyers. Your paymentprovider account will be theMerchant of Record, meaning that transactionswill list your name (or company name).
You will need to provide your tax identity information directly to each paymentprovider you connect with. They will report your income and file tax forms atthe end of the year.
Each individual transaction will appear on your account as they happen. Youwill have access to your earnings as soon as the respective payment providermakes it available to you.
In this mode you are responsible for collecting and remitting VAT tax. You canenable tax collection from your payout mode selection screen on your accountsettings.
The following payment processors are available for “Direct to you”:
Selling with theitch.io Payouts system requires you to provide your taxidentity information directly to itch.io. We use a third-party service tocollect and securely store your information. They will also mail your tax formsat the end of the year.
With this model, itch.io is theMerchant of record. Payments go directly toitch.io, and you claim your earnings later by requesting a payout.
itch.io is not a bank; request your earnings in a timely manner. If you don’twithdraw earnings from your account older than a year, we may charge amaintenance fee proportional to any unclaimed money. (Read more in our Termsof Service)
See theRequesting Payouts section below for completedetails on the payout process, review times, eligibility requirements, andpayment methods.
This section applies only to sellers using theCollected by itch.io (Payouts) system.
When using itch.io’s payout system, payments from buyers accumulate in youritch.io account balance. You can request a payout once you meet the eligibilityrequirements below.
To create a payout request, you must meet these requirements:
Tax Interview Completed: You must complete the tax identity verificationform. We validate your information during the payout review period. See theTax Interview section for details.
Minimum Balance: You must have at least$5.00 USD available to requesta payout.
Payout Method Selected: You must configure at least one payout method (eg.PayPal, Payoneer) on your account. Please note that theDirect to yousystem is completely independent from the payouts system and those connectedaccounts are not compatible and can not be used with the payouts system.
Transaction Waiting Period: Revenue from transactions becomes available 7days after the purchase date. That waiting period allows us to deal with fraudand various problems that can arise regarding payments.
In some cases, we may apply an extended waiting period of up to 30 days. Thistypically occurs when permanently closing an account balance to ensure allrevenue-adjusting events (refunds, chargebacks, disputes) have time tofinalize.
Outstanding Payout Limit: Accounts may have at most 3 payouts in progress.You must wait for us to process an existing payout before requesting another.
Note: Requesting payouts more frequently may cause you to lose more totransfer fees. We recommend collecting payouts about once a month. Storingmoney on your itch.io account over a year can result in a charge fromitch.io, seeUnclaimed Earnings In PublisherAccounts.
Staff review all payouts before payment. We require a minimum of 7 days afteryou create a payout and typically complete reviews within 10 to 14 days. Thisreview period lets us assess risk and fraud issues and allows balance-adjustingevents to settle (e.g., refunds, chargebacks).
If we determine your payout is high-risk (eg. large volume of suspicioustransactions) then we may place an extended review period on your payout. Wewill contact you to discuss the situation and determine the best course ofaction.
First-time sellers may experience longer review times as we verify accountactivity. Your patience is appreciated.
Before we can send payment, your payout must meet these conditions:
Tax Validation: Your tax information must reachValidated state.You can complete the tax interview before requesting a payout, but validationoccurs during the review period. We cannot process payouts with unvalidated,failed, or incomplete tax information.
Fraud Review: All transactions in the payout must clear fraud review. Weemploy a risk analysis system to mark transactions for human review if they aresuspected of fraud.
Staff Approval: After meeting all requirements above, staff must review andapprove the payout before we send payment. Our final review is to check for anysuspicious activity or terms violations. If we have any questions about theactivity in the payout we will reach out to you to collect more information.
European VAT laws dictate that any business, when selling to customerscurrently located in the European Union, must collect value-added tax(VAT) according to the current rate of the country the seller isbuying from.
Note that EU-VAT also applies to non-EU business, and that it’sthe country one isbuying from, notliving in, that is takeninto account.
To help you comply with this legislation, itch.io allows you to:
With theDirect to you model, you are responsible for registering at a VATMOSS and paying the tax collected. You can export all the necessary informationabout your transactions for your quarterly reporting from your dashboard.itch.io automatically collects address and geo-location from IP address for anybuyers when necessary.
When using theCollected by itch.io model however, both those features areenabled by default, anditch.io pays tax quarterly to our VAT MOSS accountlocated in Ireland. No work is required from you.
TheCollected by itch.io model only supports accepting USD.
ForDirect payments, you can select the currency you with to sell in. ForPayPal users, it’s important to ensure your PayPal account is configured toaccept the currency you selected, otherwise your payments may get blocked.
When usingPayPal, the following currencies are supported:
When usingStripe, the following countries and currencies are available:
If you payment provider account is for a specific currency, you must set thesame currency in yourSeller settings page;otherwise, you may be unable to receive payments.
If you are using itch.io’sPayouts system then you must complete aTaxInterview before your account is eligible to collect any earnings through apayout. You can find instructions on how to complete the Tax Interview duringthe seller onboarding when setting up your account, or by navigating to theTax Information tab on your account settings page.
Before your account can collect any payments you should complete the taxinterview. After completing the tax interview your information will be on fileand your account will ready to accept payments. (During this time yourValidation Status may be shown as pending, but you can still start collectingpayments)
Before your account is eligible to receive earnings through a payout, your taxinformation must be validated. Validation will take place after you open yourfirst payout request. This means you can start selling before your informationis validated, but you can not collect any earnings until validation succeeds.Generally validation happens instantly, but in some cases it may take longer toverify the information you have provided. If the validation has failed, then itwill be reported on theTax Information page.We are unable to process anypayouts unless your tax information validates. You can either retake the taxinterview orcontact support for more assistance
During the tax interview, you must provide a Tax Identification Number (eg.Social Security Number, EIN, ITIN, local Tax Number, etc.). If you do notprovide a valid Tax Identification Number then your account will be subject tothe default 30% withholding rate, even if you are located in the United Statesor in a country that has a tax treaty with the United States.
This section is only relevant to sellers who are doing business as an entity located outside of the United States
Since itch.io is a U.S. company, funds we send to foreign entities are subjecttoa withholdingtax.This only applies to sellers using itch.io’sCollected by itch.io(Payouts). Using Direct Payments you may be subject to the same tax but itis handled directly by the payment providers and not itch.io
The default tax rate is 30% but you may be eligible for a reduced rate if youoperate ina country that has a tax treaty with the UnitedStates,and you provide a Tax Identification Number.
After you complete the tax interview you'll be shown your withholding rate onyour seller account settings page. If you don’t agree with what is displayed,you'll have to retake the interview. You cancontact support to gethelp with updating your tax information.
Although it may be possible to complete the tax interview without a taxidentification number,you will be assigned the default withholding rate of30% even if your country is eligible for a reduced rate. Please take thetime to fill out the tax interview as much as you can. If you are unsure,then we recommending contacting a local financial professional.
This only applies to sellers using itch.io’sCollected by itch.io(Payouts). If itch.io needs to debit your account for previous activity thenan adjustment will be applied the next time you request a payout. Anyadjustments will be shown after you create a payout under theAdjustmentssummary section. If you do not see this section then there are no adjustments.
If the sum of your adjustments is larger than the sum of your revenue to beclaimed, then you will not be able to initiate a payout. Once your balance isabove your debits you can create a payout.
Here’s a list of adjustments you may see:
Why does itch.io pass fees on to me? itch.io utilizes “Open RevenueSharing,” a system wheresellers can decide what percentage of their revenue is shared with theplatform. Because we are not guaranteed an amount from sellers through thesales of their goods, we pass any operating costs directly onto the seller.This includes payment processor fees, and any of the fees listed above.
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